In the months since taking over as manager of the Ireland football team, the scale of the job ahead will have become clear to Heimir Hallgrímsson.
The Icelandic coach’s first window in charge could scarcely have gone worse, with an abject defeat to old enemy England followed by a similarly empty performance against Greece and another 2-0 defeat.
With another international window coming up next week, Hallgrímsson will be tasked with elevating the level of a team who have won only two competitive games since September 2022.
Hallgrímsson will hopefully be better acquainted with his squad by now, with the 57-year-old admitting that he had leaned heavily on assistant coaches John O’Shea and Paddy McCarthy for his squad selection last time out.
After the defeat to England, Hallgrímsson even hinted that he had taken inspiration from the tactical setup used during O’Shea’s brief stint as interim manager. Both the dependence on his assistants and his perceived deference to O’Shea have earned Hallgrímsson criticism from some quarters.
He has earned support from Shane Long, however, with the former Ireland striker defending Hallgrímsson during his punditry debut on Wednesday night.
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Shane Long responds to criticism of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson
Long appeared alongside his former teammate Kevin Doyle on RTÉ’s Champions League coverage on Wednesday and, after Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Bologna, the pair looked ahead to Ireland’s double-header against Finland and Greece.
The subject of developing a connection with the squad was put to Shane Long, who defended head coach Heimir Hallgrímsson against an oft-cited line of criticism.
‘Time to start turning things around’ – Kevin Doyle and Shane Long look ahead to the upcoming international window, with Ireland facing into away games against Finland and Greece #rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/wHo4BxjFWc
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) October 2, 2024
Long batted away the suggestion that Hallgrímsson’s dependence on John O’Shea (‘JOS’) was a negative, and argued that many of the best managers he had worked under had taken a more reserved role.
I don’t know…every manager is different. I had a few good managers over the years that kinda sat in the back and only spoke when they needed to speak. They got a lot more respect because of that.
[Hallgrímsson] might have that approach to football. He probably trusts JOS’ opinions as well, [O’Shea] knows the players inside out. I’m sure he won’t listen to everything JOS says and makes his own decisions.
But, when you have someone who knows the players as well as John does and knows football as well as John does…you’d be a fool not to listen.
It certainly goes against the grain.
With Heimir Hallgrímsson hopefully more familiar with his squad’s strengths and weaknesses after having a window working with them last month, one can only hope things will improve in Helsinki and Athens next week.
However, it’s becoming harder and harder for Irish fans to depend on anything other than said hope.